National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2013
“By turns utterly derivative and audaciously original, Quentin Tarantino's mordantly wicked Möbius strip of a movie influenced a generation of filmmakers and stands as a milestone in the evolution of independent cinema in the United States, making it one of the few films on the National Film Registry as notable for its lasting impact on the film industry as its considerable artistic merits.”
Independent Spirit Awards — 3 wins, 4 nominationsLos Angeles Film Critics Association — 3 winsNational Board of Review — 3 winsBritish Academy Film Awards — 2 wins, 8 nominationsAll 23 wins · 45 nominations on record
Independent Spirit Awards: Best Director
Independent Spirit Awards: Best Male Lead
Independent Spirit Awards: Best Screenplay
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Director
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Film
National Board of Review: Best Director
National Board of Review: National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
National Board of Review: Best Film
British Academy Film Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role
British Academy Film Awards: Best Original Screenplay
Academy Awards: Best Writing, Original Screenplay
Golden Globe Awards: Best Screenplay
David di Donatello: Best Foreign Actor
Cannes Film Festival: Palme d'Or
New York Film Critics Circle: Best Director
National Society of Film Critics Award: Best Screenplay
National Society of Film Critics Award: Best Director
National Society of Film Critics Award: Best Film
MTV Movie Award: Best Dance Sequence
MTV Movie Award: Best Movie
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award: Best Film
London Film Critics Circle Award: Actor of the Year
Scholarship
Named in the title of 25 peer-reviewed works
Examples
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pulp Fiction arrived in 1994 through Miramax, a Quentin Tarantino script assembled from crossed storylines and a soundtrack of surf rock and soul. It took the Palme d'Or at Cannes and reshaped independent cinema's commercial ceiling, proving a dialogue-driven, nonlinear crime picture could dominate the cultural conversation. Its influence touched a generation of filmmakers who borrowed its structure, its needle drops, and its willingness to let scenes breathe in ways studios rarely permitted. The film remains a fixture of best-of lists and a touchstone for how the 1990s redefined American genre filmmaking outside the major studio system.
This cell preserves a title card, the frame where the film announces itself before any character appears. Collectors seek these for what they represent rather than any performer captured within them: the moment a picture states its name and asks an audience to settle in. A title card from Pulp Fiction carries the weight of the film's opening gesture, the threshold between the diner conversation and everything that follows. It stands as a piece of the picture's identity itself, a physical fragment of the exact moment audiences first read the film's name on screen.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of Pulp Fiction (1994).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge of the picture area, appearing as a narrow light-modulated stripe; Dolby Digital data blocks are not clearly distinguishable at this size, and no DTS timecode line or SDDS outer-edge tracks are visible in this capture.
Edge print
Bottom edge reads (mirrored): 'KA 18 2332 3986.' and a barcode strip; top edge shows 'S' and 'T' and 'R' partial characters.
Base & colour
The base appears with a slight warm-neutral tint; the dye image shows strong yellow and orange hues consistent with an intact colour dye set, with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are apparent in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames show the same title-card composition, consistent with a title sequence held on consecutive frames; the title text 'PULP FICTION' matches the film on record.
Era check
The variable-area optical soundtrack, Kodak edge coding format, and colour positive stock are all consistent with a 1990s theatrical release print of a film from 1994.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063001
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
